In skiing they measure by the feet taken off the full length rope. 41 is referring to 41 off, which is 41 feet off the full length rope. The full length rope is 75' long so 41 off leaves only a 34 foot rope. The bouys are 37.5 feet from the middle of the course. That means at 41 off the rope is 3.5 feet short of the bouy. Basically it is just insane to be able to even get close to the bouys. Why you see tall lankey guys/girls as the best slalom skiers.

I had the pleasure of riding in the boat while Chris Sullivan made a couple turns. It is amazing the torque and acceleration they creat. Even from him standing on the ski in the through to laying into it to pull outside he shot so friggen fast it is crazy.

PS I would rather see a good water skier lay down some amazing free ski turns then some tech wakeboarder spin all over the place any day of the week.

No problem. I grew up getting up before school and going out on the boat with my dad and his friends. I never skied when I was young but loved watching them free ski(no course). I just got up on a single ski for the first time a couple years ago. I am a big dude and it was one the friggen hardest thing I have ever done. It is a great feelling to get up on a slalom ski and being pulled at 30+ mph even if I only got 5 or 6 turns in before I was completely wasted. Taking 7-10 tries to get up probably didn't help that.

...PS I would rather see a good water skier lay down some amazing free ski turns then some tech wakeboarder spin all over the place any day of the week.

I agree! A good waterskier is fun to watch. Speed and Power! I still get more enjoyment and excitement from waterskiing than from wakeboarding and surfing. But, now that I'm older it just hurts more when I'm done.

I thought slalom was a pre requisite for Wakboarders? Guess Im getting old. I used to LOVE slalom. Did it till I was 15, got a wakeboard, and now when I do slalom, its TERRIFYING. Forgot how fast that sport is!

After riding with my 17 year old neighbor who flipped, spinned and combined both in 15 different combination's I decided to make a barefoot and slalom run. He commended that one day I'm going to try that stuff but its so hard. What a shocker! I decided to mix it up only because I was tired of doing 10% of his trick bag. Maybe next time I'll break out the disc, canoe paddle or piece of plywood.

I competed in high school and in college.. 41 off is about as short as you can go.. i am 6'2" 158# i was on skies at 3. slalom at 6 (dropping a ski) i have not been competitive for about 5 years now but when i was riding i was 36 off @ 35mph... the world record is 43 off 2 buoys.. now i am riding 30-35..

this right here is a great feet great wall being thrown up. there is no bigger rush laying into a 180 at 10mph and getting sling shotted to 60 instantly throwing a 10' wall of water in the are to rip across the wakes and do it again 5 seconds later..

Since this thread screams like a Centurion advertisement I thought I would share another perspective from a recent pro tournament. I was hanging out with a few of the official boat drivers, they were commenting on how Nate has been the man to beat all summer but they also said the others skiers have electing boat choice over top seat when they had a choice so they could force him to ski behind the Centurion instead of the Nautique 200 to put him at a slight disadvantage. They were also talking about how hard it was to keep the Centurion in the center of the course compared to the MC or Nautique. Based on this I have to tip my hate to Nate skiing superior behind inferior equipment. He was interesting to watch, very different technique that seems to work very well, just looks a bit odd to see it.

Mike, I don't know who you were talking to, but from everything I have heard this has been the most accepted non Big 3 boat in a while in the 3 event community. Anytime you are talking to "drivers" at a 3 event tournament, you are most likely either talking to a Malibu, Nautique, or MC promo guy, so I'm sure they have a lot of great things to say about the Centurion

After having first hand experience with some early 2000s Centurion 3 event boats, I am usually the first to jump on the Centurion bashing bandwagon, but even though I don't think fit and finish of the Centurion is anywhere near the others, I believe the ski ability is right there from everyone I have talked with.

I'm not sure if the guy above running "36 off" has any idea what he is talking about. If you are running 36 mph, you're between bouys a lot faster than 5 seconds.

The Centurion Carbon Pro is a very nice boat. From a slalom purist standpoint the 2012 boat lineup is probably Nautique 200, Centurion Carbon Pro, Malibu, then M/C. Nate is sponsored by Nautique and has a really nice all black Nautique 200 that was supplied to him from N3 boatworks. Nate has also been THE man to beat on the pro circuit this year. The particular situation I described above was when Will Asher chose boat over top seat so he could take Nate's boat in the final round of the Diablo Shores tournament. Will is sponsored by Malibu but chose the Nautique for his final round (actually behind Nate's black promo boat) when he beat Nate. It was a bit of an upset, Nate was favored to win, the boat choice may have been a factor but Will thought the choice of boat was a big enough factor to take boat choice away from Nate. You can see the winning photos of Will skiing behind Nate's Nautique next to his podium shots with his Malibu logo T shirt and Malibu ski.

I really have nothing against Centurion, just didn't like the taste of the original post and felt I should share a little insider's truth from the pro slalom skier world that I happened to experience. I also expect Nate to shatter the slalom record very soon behind his sponsor's boat (that would be a Nautique). Hats off to Centurion for building a slalom boat. Centurion quality has come up to par with Nautique in the past 2 years after they dropped Cal Custom as a distributor. I even worked the Centurion booth at the local boat show for the past 2 years. At this moment the Nautique 200 is the top slalom boat, that will likely change in a year or two when M/C, Malibu or even Centurion make a few changes and out do them.

Standard tournament rope length is 75' after a skier completes a full pass of 6 bouys at the top boat speed of 36MPH they start removing rope, 15', 22',28',32',35',38',41',43' "off" from the 75' length. Most skiers opt to start at 15', 22', or 28' off at the top boat speed so they never see 75'. Even skiers that cannot make the top boat speed are choosing to ski on a 60' (15' off) ski rope. In truth "36' off" was a standard length for tournament skiing back in the 60's and early 70's but I don't even remember that and am twice the age of most guys on this discussion site.

Mike, good info. I personally feel that at this point in time, it's almost preference. A lot of people love the 200, but with the choice I would personally take the LXI/TXI over the 200 any day. All great boats.

The LXi is a great boat, I have 2 friends with them, skied behind one about 3 weeks ago. All are great compared to my SV211, luckily I have access to a handful of top of the line ski boats and I am not picky about any of them.

Thanks a lot for the explanation Mikeski. Makes sense now. I tried Slalom for the first time this summer and to be honest, it was a blast, way more fun than I expected. Was I sore the next day? Wowzers!